


Nightmares

by FujurPreux



Category: Dresden Files - Butcher
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-15
Updated: 2010-04-15
Packaged: 2017-10-08 23:06:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FujurPreux/pseuds/FujurPreux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry's nightmares can get really bad, but being alone even more terrifying. Spoilers up to <em>Dead Beat</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmares

_And every night  
I close my eyes,  
I hear the voices calling:  
"Don't try to hide.  
Don't try to fight."_

 

Recurrent nightmares are called that for a reason. They keep coming over and over and over again and there's no way to stop them. All the horrors Harry has seen --and he's seen plenty of them-- show themselves full-fledged most nights. They come one by one when he's lucky, or combined when he's not. As usual, the latest happens more often than not. Yet, the worse nightmares are when the bad things that happened in reality come to play in new situations invented by Harry's mind, hurting people Harry loves in new and creative ways. Because the old ones weren't enough, apparently.

All of that only proves that Harry's subconscious is a bastard, but that's never been exactly a secret.

Nightmares were bad enough when Harry was alone, but now he's let more people get close to him, and therefore more people get to star in them.

In several of them, Harry can do nothing more than stand in the darkness, under the rain, the water taking away his magic despite the fact that he knows the running-water clause doesn't work that way. But it doesn't matter. It happens anyway.

He's also unable to move. If could at least go and get help from--someone. Anyone. It gets to the point where even Lasciel would do, but she wouldn't come.

Most of the time, Harry can't even scream.

He's just there, watching helplessly how Karrin gets torn apart by a demon, limb by limb, and her head rolls all the way to Harry's feet. He watches how Michael is defeated by one of the Denarians and tortured and killed just like Shiro, in front of his family. In front of Charity, of Molly and the rest of his children. He sees Susan as a true vampire, feeding on former colleagues.

Dark figures and shadows engulf the city. They terrorize every single person on the street, hunting them down just because they can.

In the worst of Harry's dreams, not even Ivy is safe.

And he can only watch. He's incapable of helping in anyway, like he's all tied up and trapped inside a glass.

That's the part he fears the most.

Harry then hates himself for being so helpless. He hates himself because everyone he knows is being hurt and it's all his fault.

Everything bad is his fault.

He should be more powerful. He should be capable of defending everyone.

He should be...

_He should..._

\--

"Harry? Harry! Wake up!"

Harry opens his eyes, startled. He wonders briefly where Thomas's face came from.

Thomas sighs and rubs Harry's shoulder. "It's all right, little brother. You just had a nightmare."

"Oh, yeah..." Harry mumbles after a moment. "Those happen..."

"Those happen often, I know," Thomas says. He's obviously displeased about that fact, but there's little he can do about it.

"I'm sorry I woke you up," Harry says.

Thomas looks even more displeased now. "It's not that, you idiot." He scratches the bridge of his nose. "Want me to keep you company?"

"That's not necessary." A pause. "Thanks."

"No problem," Thomas says. But he doesn't leave. Instead, he flops himself right next to Harry and begins reading a book on dog training Harry'd bought that same evening and had placed on the night table. "For beginners. Just what I needed."

Harry grumbles a little bit, but that doesn't deter Thomas --and he isn't expecting it anyway. It's only to save face while he nests himself again under the blankets. It's still dark outside, and he can still get a few more hours of sleep. And he may actually rest this time around.

~*~

Nightmares were really bad when Harry was alone, and they've become even worse in time, but now he has a brother to wake him up. That really means a lot.

 

_It's only sleep.  
It's just a dream  
And you're not really falling.  
Get up and try to live your life._

**Author's Note:**

> The stanzas are from the song _Keep Falling Down_ by Sissel.


End file.
